Catching Up

A quick catch up on the last few days, as we've changed plans and are headed to the coast a day early, where we will have little to no Internet access while there for the next 10+ days. Excited about this place and the volunteer work we will be doing as well as surfing (links in itinerary if interested).

Our sweet host surprised SJ with an early birthday fiesta that included a 3 foot clown piñata (that terrified her as she thought it was real). Some of our host's friends came over and everyone in the home celebrated with cake, chocolate covered bananas, and pineapple. We hope that she knows how much we appreciated her thoughtfulness, generosity, and hard work but we are a bit unsure with the language/cultural barrier. Interesting for us to be on the receiving end of this situation. Needless to say, the next several days our sweet daughter woke up with one thing on her mind - CANDY!

Thursday concluded our Spanish lessons and to celebrate we hiked up Cerro de la Cruz at sunset for great views of the city below.

We wrapped up serving at God's Child on Friday with handing out vegetables to the moms. A company had also donated office furniture and the moms were thrilled to receive room dividers and desk tops.

Friday evening we had dinner at the Kid's Restaurant, a place where underprivileged children receive after school help and have the option to learn restaurant skills from cooking and preparing food, to serving, and waiting on guests. We were served a wonderful three course meal by Diego and left extremely full.

Diego, our waiter

Saturday Dad was thrilled to complete his first chicken bus experience as we ventured out to a local macadamia nut farm.

Bus run "Duenas"

Chicken Bus selfie

Riding a chicken bus is the way the locals travel within Guatemala. These buses are refurbished school buses from the US and Canada, they are elaborately painted, and squeeze as many living things in them as possible. We were fortunate to only ride with other humans, but it is not uncommon to be handed a chicken or other livestock to set on your lap for the journey.

The macadamia farm is well known for their amazing pancakes! They offer free tours which end with a two minute facial (tips appreciated). We then hung out on the beautiful grounds all day reading.

Pancake breakfast

Facials for all

On Sunday the church had a much larger attendance than the previous week. Afterwards we invited a college girl traveling solo from the States to join us at a restaurant up the mountain for lunch. It was quiet and had beautiful views of the city below and volcanoes in the distance.

Monday we took a tour with Ninos de la Guatemala to the old city, which was the second capital city of Guatemala (a mudslide moved the capital to Antigua where an earthquake caused the capital to move again to it's current location of Guatemala City). We traveled via chicken bus and then toured a barn where they refurbish the chicken buses from old school buses. We learned that being a chicken bus driver is the most dangerous job in Guatemala (some have said the world) because people will demand money from the drivers (mostly during their off hours) and if they do not pay, they are killed. There is a documentary called La Camioneta (available on Net Flix - trailer here) which covers the colorful process of a retired USA bus being transformed into a Guatemalan bus. We have not seen it but our guide said it is very good. Part of the filming was this very garage which is in the trailer. Additionally, a NY Times article is here.

Bus chasis

Floors typically completely replaced

Guatemala is still experiencing many post-war situations and the government is not stable. They have an election coming up early September, but people do not seem to be optimistic about the candidates or the future. There is a lot of mistrust and corruption here.

After touring the chicken bus barn, we visited a school supported by the NGO Ninos de la Guatemala. We ended our tour with a visit to a local carpenter's home to see his coffin making business. He did beautiful work and we learned that coffins sell for roughly $200. A coffin can be made in roughly one day, but it takes several days for it to be sent off to be painted and lined inside. When someone dies, the family hosts a three day open house for friends and relatives who would like to pay their respects. A lot of money is spent on feeding these people as well as providing beverages, which is all done and prepared by the immediate family. Finally, land must be purchased in a cemetery for the coffin to be placed, usually near family. The coffins are not buried, but are placed above ground in the cemetery.

Finishing area

Assembly portion

We wrapped up Monday with the much anticipated chocolate tour where we learned how the cacao bean goes from bean to the bars and candies we eat. This was fascinating to learn the history of the Olmecs (who discovered cacao), Mayans (who used it as a beverage in sacrifices to their gods combining it with human blood & believed that drinking it frothy guaranteed one long life), Aztecs (who learned of it as a red beverage from the Mayans used much paprika & chile powder to get the red color), Spanish (who drank it with anise, cinnamon & black pepper and after transporting it to Europe, got the word out so that it has become the chocolate we are familiar with today). We roasted beans and separated the husks from the seed which we crushed into nibs. We used the nibs to make Mayan and Spanish hot chocolate, and the husks to make a chocolate tea. We also all made chocolate candies that we were able to bring home.